Paris Talks, Bullshit Walks.

Recently The United Nations climate change talks in Paris exposed our Prime Minister as being blatantly defiant in making any real commitment to taking action on trying to improve our very poor history of reducing carbon emissions. As per usual, he used semantics to fumble his way through making a commitment to change.

New Zealand, or rather the National Government, has claimed that our target is to have 11% carbon emission reductions by 2030 (based from 1990). In other words, bugger all.

For a country that is selling ourselves to the rest of the world as a clean and green wonderland, the truth couldn't be any further from it. New Zealand subsidises oil and has a terrible track record of decimating rivers, streams and oceans thanks to ever increasing pollution from farms and agriculture.

We should have a Government that is willing to embrace alternative energy resources, such as solar power and wind energy, rather than a government that is answering to global corporations and lobbyists that have no interest in saving our environment.

Saudi Arabia is about as far away from New Zealand as you could get, yet we find ourselves coupled with them and Russia by the Climate Action Tracker group as some of the worst offenders in the world when it comes to a willingness to change our carbon emission reduction goals.

Ignorance is bliss, and the National government are all to aware of this, they continue to ensure the New Zealand public that we are doing "our part" to combat climate change.

Problem is, when the rest of the world are telling us we aren't, the public do tend to listen. As a country, we have more than enough tenacity to combat the goal of heavily reducing our carbon emissions, but when the government is doing dirty business with international oil conglomerations and actively dismissing the solar power/ alternative energy industry, the people need to stand up and make their voices heard.

We shouldn't dismiss this opportunity for change, there are examples the world over of temperamental eco systems, such as New Zealand's, that have been destroyed thanks to a few greedy and self serving politicians. Climate change is real, and if you want a country that resembles anything that you are used to for generations to come, then you had better start getting frustrated with the government. I know I sure as hell am.

You need to be signed in to post a comment.

If you have an account you can login here, if you haven't registered yet you can register here.